in town, kept in good condition for the benefit of
the cottagers and the boarders at the big hotel. The ocean was on the
left, and from the hill by the Barry estate--Captain Perez' charge--they
saw twenty miles of horizon line with craft of all descriptions
scattered along it.

Schooners there were of all sizes, from little mackerel seiners to big
four- and five-masters. A tug with a string of coal barges behind it
was so close in that they could make out the connecting hawsers. A black
freight steamer was pushing along, leaving a thick line of smoke like a
charcoal mark on the sky. One square-rigger was in sight, but far out.

"What do you make of that bark, Perez?" inquired Captain Eri, pointing
to the distant vessel. "British, ain't she?"

Captain Perez leaned forward and peered from under his hand. "French,
looks to me," he said.

"Don't think so. Way she's rigged for'ard looks like Johnny Bull. Look
at that fo'tops'l."

"Guess you're right, Eri, now I come to notice it. Can you make out her
flag? Wish I'd brought my glass."

"Great Scott, man!" exclaimed Ralph. "What sort of eyes have you got? I
couldn't tell whether she had a flag or not at this distance. How do you
do it?"

"'Cordin' to how you're brought up, as the goat said 'bout eatin'
shingle-nails," replied Captain Eri. "When you're at sea you've jest got
to git used to seein' things a good ways off and knowin' 'em when you
see 'em, too."

"I remember, one time," remarked Mrs. Snow, "that my brother
Nathan--he's dead now--was bound home from Hong Kong fust mate on
the bark Di'mond King. 'Twas the time of the war and the Alabama was
cruisin' 'round, lookin' out for our ships. Nate and the skipper--a
Bangor man he was--was on deck, and they sighted a steamer a good ways
off. The skipper spied her and see she was flyin' the United States
flag. But when Nate got the glass he took one look and says, 'That
Yankee buntin' don't b'long over that English hull,' he says. You see
he knew she was English build right away. So the skipper pulled down his
own flag and h'isted British colors, but 'twa'n't no use; the steamer
was the Alabama sure enough, and the Di'mond King was burned, and
all hands took pris'ners. Nate didn't git home for ever so long, and
everybody thought he was lost."

This set the captains going, and they told sea-stories until they came
to the road that led down to the beach beneath the lighthouse bluff. The
lifesaving station was in plain